Volume 8, Issue 2 - April 2004

A Constructivist Method for the Analysis of Networked Cognitive Communication and the Assessment of Collaborative Learning

Milton Campos, Psy.D, Assistant Professor, Département de communication, University of Montreal

This article presents a discourse analysis method designed to study networked cognitive communication processes in knowledge communities, such as conceptual change, higher order learning and knowledge building. The method is grounded on genetic epistemology and integrates constructivist and socio-constructivist theoretical concepts. The sentence (understood as judgment) is chosen as the...

University Instructors' Reflections on their First Online Teaching Experiences

Dianne Conrad, University of New Brunswick

Moving from traditional face-to-face teaching to teaching online can be a precarious process for instructors. In this qualitative study, I interviewed instructors who were engaged in online teaching, for the first time, in a graduate program at a Canadian university. All instructors had some postsecondary face-to-face teaching experience. In-depth interviews...

The Impact of Increasing Enrollment on Faculty Workload and Student Satisfaction Over Time

David DiBiase, John A. Dutton e-Education Institute, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University

Detailed daily records of instructor effort in an established asynchronous online course over a three and one-half year period are analyzed. Student satisfaction data acquired from course evaluation surveys over the same period are also examined. In response to a three-fold increase in enrollment over the period, instructors realized a...

Student Role Adjustment in Online Communities of Inquiry: Model and Instrument Validation

D. Randy Garrison, University of Calgary
Martha Cleveland-Innes, Athabasca University
Dr. Tak Fung, University of Calgary

The purpose of this study is to validate an instrument to study role adjustment of students new to an online community of inquiry. The community of inquiry conceptual model for online learning was used...

Best Online Instructional Practices: Report of Phase I of an Ongoing Study

Morris T. Keeton, Senior Scholar, University of Maryland University College

This study examines how best practices in online instruction are the same as, or different from, best practices in face-to-face (F2F) instruction. The book Effectiveness and Efficiency in Higher Education for Adults ...

Evaluating Online Discussions: Four Different Frames of Analysis

Dr. Katrina A. Meyer, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, University of North Dakota

This study uses four different “frames” to analyze 17 online discussions that occurred in two doctoral-level classes in educational leadership. Two of the frames were developmental models: King and Kitchener’s ...

Taking E-Moderating Skills to the Next Level: Reflecting on the Design of Conferencing Environments

Shelagh M. Ross, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
Helen Chappel, University of Glasgow, 53 Hillhead Street, Glasgow G12 8QQ
Brian Joyce, Näsilinnankatu 22 A 34, 33210 Tampere, Finland

This paper reports an analysis of computer conference structures set up for a distance education course in which major components of the teaching and learning involve group discussions and collaboration via asynchronous ...

Predicting Learning from Asynchronous Online Discussions

Dezhi Wu, Department of Information Systems, College of Computing Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Department of Information Systems, College of Computing Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Online discussions play an important role in student learning. Currently, asynchronous learning courses and some primarily face-to-face courses at New Jersey Institute of Technology require asynchronous online discussions. Does this requirement improve the students’ perceived learning? An exploratory study designed to investigate this issue was conducted in Spring 2002. The...